The Eleventh Commandment

Introduction

• On the night Jesus was arrested he told his disciples something so incredible that it changed centuries of Jewish history and has a profound effect on believers today. The problem though, is that Jesus’ words get lost between two heart-breaking events: he predicts he will be betrayed and then denied by two of his disciples.

• I’m Brent and this is episode 31 of The Bible Unplugged. We continue our series, Easter Unplugged, John’s account of what Jesus experienced on his way to the cross.

• Please take a minute to look at the show notes for this episode at PowerLoveandMiracles.com under the Podcast tab. While you are there, sign up for my newsletter to receive notifications about new podcast episodes and other content.

Why is John Different?

• As we have discussed previously, John’s gospel is radically different than the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John has a theological reason for being so unique.

• He does not include an account of the Lord’s Supper as the other gospels do. The Lord’s Supper was instituted during the Passover meal Jesus and the disciples shared on Thursday evening after the Passover lamb was sacrificed in the Temple.

• John portrays Jesus being crucified on Thursday afternoon before the Passover meal. Why? This is in keeping with John’s theme of Jesus as the Ultimate Passover lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

• The meal the disciples shared in John chapter 13 is a normal meal, but the events that unfold during this meal have eternal significance.

John’s Great Transition

• This event marks a turning point in Jesus’ ministry and purpose.

• Everything that happens after this verse moves toward Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

• Jesus is covering a lot of ground in chapter 13 and following: washing the disciples’ feet, predicting that Judas will betray him, telling the disciples that he will not be with them much longer, predicting that Peter will deny knowing him, and his final sermon to the disciples in chapters 14 through 17.

A new commandment

• In the middle of all that activity Jesus says something to his disciples that is easily overlooked.

• In John chapter 13, beginning in verse 34 Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

• Jesus talked about love a lot in his ministry. We find the word “love” more than 50 times in the Gospel of John. The word “love” appears 31 times just in chapters 13-17.

• I have a list of these verses in the show notes if you are interested.

• What Jesus said about a new commandment changes the meaning of the word love, not just in the chapters that follow, but for all believers.

Love as a commandment

• Jesus elevates love for other people from a lofty goal to a commandment.

• When challenged by Jewish leaders, Jesus said previously that the greatest commandment is to love God and to love others as we love ourselves.

• It’s interesting that we find this story in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but not in John.

• Jesus goes beyond what he said in the other gospels to elevate our love for other people to the same status as the 10 commandments given to Moses.

• From this point on, we have eleven commandments, not 10. This is a game changer that we often overlook.

What does this mean

• By elevating the concept of love for one another to the status of a commandment changes everything about our relationships with other people.

• We often think that showing love for others is something we should be working on. Some people are more challenging to love than others.

• What Jesus tells us, though, is that love has to be the starting point in our relationships, not a desire or a worthy goal.

What do we learn from this

• Jesus gives this new commandment to his disciples the day before his crucifixion. What would happen if Jesus gave this commandment to his disciples on day one? I believe a lot of his followers would leave. There were many kinds of people that the Jews hated or at least avoided.

• The Romans were the enemy

• Gentiles were unworthy

• People with diseases or deformities were sinners

• The Samaritans were half-breeds that weren’t allowed to worship in the Temple

• Different groups within Judaism couldn’t stand each other.

• By raising love for each other to the status of a commandment we do not have the luxury of deciding who we like or who we don’t. We can’t use the excuse that we are trying to love the unlovable because everyone, regardless of how we may feel about them, is loved by God.

What do we do with this?

• Think of the people in your life that you just can’t stand to be around. We all have at least a few of those. Who comes to mind? Why do you feel that way about them? What caused you to have such negative feelings about them? Given the fact that Jesus commands us to love those people, how can you change your feelings?

• Choose one person on your “can’t stand to be around” list. What can you do this week to change your view of them and possibly improve your relationship? Praying for their wellbeing is a start. You don’t have to talk to them to do that.

• Since loving the unlovable people in our lives isn’t a choice, what can you do to change your view of the kinds of people you don’t particularly like? Whether it’s because of how they look or how they act, pick one thing you can do to show them that God loves them too. Saying a quick prayer for a person when you see them can be a life-changing experience for them and for you as well.

The conclusion

• And, as you know, the music in the background means I have run out of time for this episode, but I’ll be back with a lot more.

• I hope this has been helpful. If so, give this podcast a high rating and share it with others.

• In the next episode we will focus on when Jesus is arrested and tried before the Jewish leadership.

• My prayer for you is that God will remind you of the people in your life who need to know they are loved and valued if for no other reason than they are a child of God just like you.

• Have a blessed week.

The disclaimers

• Just to let you know

• All opinions are my own. If you agree, keep listening. If you don’t… keep listening, there may be some good stuff here.

• All Bible quotations come from the World English Bible which is a public domain work.

• Our show theme song is “Awesome Call” by Kevin MacLeod and is available under a Creative Commons license.

• The content of this podcast is copyrighted 2025 by J. Brent Eaton

• This has been a Power Love and Miracles production.

The word “love” in John 13-17

1. John 13:1

"Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end."

2. John 13:23

"One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was at the table, leaning against Jesus’ breast."

3. John 13:34

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another."

4. John 13:35

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 14

5. John 14:15

"If you love me, keep my commandments."

6. John 14:21

"One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him."

7. John 14:23

"Jesus answered him, 'If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.'"

8. John 14:24

"He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me."

9. John 14:28

"You heard how I told you, ‘I go away, and I come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for the Father is greater than I."

10. John 14:31

"But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here."

John 15

11. John 15:9

"Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love."

12. John 15:10

"If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love."

13. John 15:12

"This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you."

14. John 15:13

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

15. John 15:17

"I command these things to you, that you may love one another."

John 16

16. John 16:27

"For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God."

John 17

17. John 17:23

"I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me."

18. John 17:24

"Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world."

19. John 17:26

"I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them."